I love the doors of Chichester cathedral. They are glass, with the handles in the form of a great cross, symbol of death. Each time the door is opened the cross splits in two: Resurrection. I don’t know if that was the artist’s intent, but it is in the iron, and in me.
The Cathedral is from 1109, with Norman arches all down the nave, and has reliefs of the Raising of Lazarus on its South wall. And it has such iron work throughout, such as this lectern by the Nave altar
and the accompanying pulpit,
and the high candlesticks behind the tapestry for St Richard. This dark metal gives a unity of theme. I love the font, too, the simplicity of that polished metal. The child dipped there is surrounded by light diffracted by the water surface. The cathedral is filled with electric light on its pale stone.
Outside is St Richard- “see thee more clearly, love thee more dearly, follow thee more nearly”. Friends said he looked like Gandalf, or Dumbledore, or Obi-Wan Kenobi. No, they look like him.
And Elizabeth, with Philip.
Here is the Arundel tomb– of a family called Arundel, not in Arundel. See how he has taken off his gauntlet.
I love the tapestry behind the high altar. A man asked if I needed it explained, and I identified the Evangelists symbolised at the bottom. The Greek elements are at the top, and the middle three panels are the Trinity.
Here is a misericord. I like misericords. The choir stalls were roped off until Evensong, so this was the only one I could photograph, and I only saw one other. We went back for Evensong.
I sat in Evensong, deeply uncomfortable. I looked at the leaflet, after- there is so much grovelling! I would count it. Actually, I only found two phrases from Cranmer, “We who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished”, and, “We worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness”. There was an open day, recruiting potential new young choristers. The singing was beautiful.
And I was back in childhood, in the Anglican church. After, I was thinking of one of my father’s bonnet bees: we would be dismissed- “Go in peace to love and serve the Lord”, or whatever- and then we would sit down to listen to the organ voluntary. And he said we should not: shriven, we should be about our work. I felt constrained and powerless. I felt I had to conform to a template that was not me.
And now, I am in delight. In Internal Family Systems therapy, Richard Schwartz asks how old the stuck child believes the person is, and the person announces their age, 57 or whatever. After Facing the Monster, saying an age in years seemed meaningless, so I told myself, “I am old enough to go out, get food, bring it home and prepare it. That is, I am old enough to look after myself. So I tried that with a friend, and it did not land. Instead, I said, “You are old enough to speak and be heard”. I made another guess for another friend, meeting the needs of the child in her. Right now, I feel such delight in this! It makes me feel powerful, effective, worthwhile!
Clare Flourish 